{"id":137275,"date":"2026-05-30T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/137275\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T06:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:00:15","slug":"grapevine-may-29-2026-meaningful-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/137275\/","title":{"rendered":"Grapevine, May 29, 2026: Meaningful conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone under the impression that the stately residential buildings in Talbiyeh<\/a> are safe from urban renewal projects is mistaken.<\/p>\n

This past Sunday, signboards went up notifying residents of a 14-point plan to either change them or preserve the historic buildings among them.<\/p>\n

The information was signed by Shira Talmi-Babai, who chairs the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee. Though a high percentage of native English speakers live in Talbiyeh, the signs were just in Hebrew and Arabic.<\/p>\n

Familiar sites are fast disappearing. One can only imagine the dismay and frustration of returning tourists.<\/p>\n

Given the huge spike in antisemitism around the world, it\u2019s quite surprising to realize many people are converts or undergoing the conversion process.<\/p>\n

Although some may be doing so to marry a Jewish partner, the overwhelming majority say they have found something more meaningful in Judaism.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe tallit (prayer shawl) is a customary Jewish prayer garment. (credit: DENNIS ZINN\/THE JERUSALEM POST)<\/p>\n

Old City conference for converts drew masses<\/p>\n

Some 1,000 converts from across Israel converged on Jerusalem\u2019s Old City<\/a> last week, just ahead of Shavuot, to participate in the National Convert Conference under the banner of \u201cAn Eternal Nation \u2013 One Nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

That slogan itself may explain why so many have opted to join the Jewish people. Empires that engaged in murdering Jews or forcing them into slavery no longer exist.<\/p>\n

History indicates that despite heavy loss of life, all attempts to eradicate the Jewish people have failed, whereas the majority of those empires have themselves disappeared or changed their policies. Some converts are actually descended from Jewish ancestors forced to convert to Christianity.<\/p>\n

The conference was organized by the Prime Minister\u2019s Office Conversion Authority, and was attended by Sephardi Chief Rabbi David Yosef and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

The Conversion Authority is the key address for people who want to join the Jewish faith in accordance with Halacha and claim Israeli citizenship.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu said that state conversion is a monumental national mission touching the heart of Jewish identity and the future of the State of Israel.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Yehuda Amichai, who heads the Conversion Authority, said that all those engaged in conversion programs are already part of the process of joining the people of Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here to accompany you and teach you until [the process is completed],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last year, 2,610 converts finished their studies through the Conversion Authority and were accepted as members of the Jewish people, while 5,910 are currently in the conversion process. (The total includes new immigrants converted abroad by rabbis deemed acceptable to Israel\u2019s Chief Rabbinate.)<\/p>\n

Despite all the Jerusalem Light Rail construction work being carried out in the immediate vicinity, the Orient Hotel in the German Colony<\/a> on Emek Refaim Street is the venue for the 33rd annual Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economy and Society.<\/p>\n

Jointly hosted by the Dalia and Eli Hurvitz Foundation and the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), the conference will be held between June 2 and June 3.<\/p>\n

It will be chaired by Prof. Karnit Flug, the former governor of the Bank of Israel and the only female to ever hold that post. The president of the conference is Yohanan Plesner, who serves as head of the IDI.<\/p>\n

On the agenda for discussion are issues related to the state budget on the day after the Knesset elections, such as measures to ensure economic growth, and new economic paradigms in relations between the state and haredi (ultra-Orthodox) society.<\/p>\n

Economic and social rehabilitation for people who suffered economic and social harm from the war, and the value of the individual human being in an era of artificial intelligence, will also be included in the discussion topics.<\/p>\n

Eli Hurvitz, born in Jerusalem 94 years ago and who died in 2011, was the chairman of the board and CEO of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. He was also an Israel Prize laureate, recognized for his contributions to society and the state.<\/p>\n

At a recent prize-giving ceremony in Jerusalem, the woman sitting alongside me said, \u201cI\u2019m so glad you\u2019re here to cover some good news, because the general focus of the media is on bad news.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an unfortunate truth that good news is no news. Then again, it depends on what newspapers want to publish. Despite all the negatives we read about in the press or hear on TV and radio, many positive things are happening in Israel.<\/p>\n

Close to home, the Hebrew University is one of the prime examples. Hardly a week goes by without it announcing a prestigious grant from an overseas institution, membership in an elite academic organization, or international prizes for faculty members.<\/p>\n

Academic boycotts notwithstanding, the Hebrew University<\/a> is certainly holding its own. A recent development is the collaboration between Harvard University\u2019s Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence and the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences at the Hebrew University.<\/p>\n

Immigrants from the UK who used to live in Hampstead, London, may be interested in attending a lecture by Dr. Michael Harris on June 1.<\/p>\n

A former rabbi of the Hampstead Synagogue, Harris, who is now a research fellow in the Philosophy department at the University of Haifa, will discuss \u201cThe Hampstead Synagogue 1995-2005 \u2013 A Perspective from the Pulpit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The venue is at Beit Natan, in the Shir Hadash synagogue, at 1 Yakov Rubin Street, which is close to the route of the 91 bus, though there are plenty of parking spaces.<\/p>\n

This lecture, which starts at 7 p.m., is under the auspices of the Israel branch of the Jewish Historical Society of England.<\/p>\n

greerfc@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anyone under the impression that the stately residential buildings in Talbiyeh are safe from urban renewal projects is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[37764,26369,37,29153,5493,1520,691],"class_list":["post-137275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-conversion","tag-grapevine","tag-israel","tag-old-city-jerusalem","tag-state-of-israel","tag-tourism","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116662004789500141","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}